More from some other prominent AL West hurlers …
Sept. 11, 4:22pm: The news on Manaea’s timeline is brutal, as manager Bob Melvin now tells reporters that the expectation is that Manaea will miss an entire year (Twitter links via Jane Lee of MLB.com and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). The team will know more after the surgery, but that early estimate is a crushing reality for the upstart A’s, who may now be without their most talented starter for the entirety of the 2019 season.
2:17pm: The Athletics announced today that lefty Sean Manaea will undergo surgery on his pitching shoulder. He had been on the disabled list since late August with what was then labeled as an impingement.
Certainly, the procedure will be expected to keep Manaea sidelined for the remainder of the 2018 season. Beyond that, though, it’s not clear what to expect. The organization says that it “will provide further details after the surgery.”
While it had become increasingly clear of late that Manaea would not make it back late this year, this is still a particularly disappointing way to wrap things up. We’ll need to wait to learn more about the prognosis, but shoulder surgeries are always of particular concern for pitchers.
Manaea had turned in 161 2/3 innings of 3.59 ERA pitching this year, helping spur a remarkable run for the Oakland ballclub. To be sure, his peripherals weren’t quite as exciting. With 6.0 K/9, 1.8 BB/9, and a 44.0% groundball rate, ERA estimators viewed him more as a quality rotation piece than a front-end starter (4.26 FIP, 4.33 xFIP, 4.46 SIERA).
Despite the questions, the 26-year-old is an indisputably talented and valuable pitcher. He’s slated to qualify for arbitration this coming offseason as a Super Two player, so missing some time late in the year will put a bit of a dent in his earnings. Still, with 464 MLB frames of sub-4.00 ERA pitching already under his belt, Manaea ought to earn well through the arb process.
]]>About one month back, the sides announced the first PTBNL: young righty Nolan Blackwood. In the meantime, Fiers has continued mostly to pile up good innings for the A’s.
Shore, a 2016 second-rounder, is a rather notable prospect to be on the move. The 23-year-old turned in four strong outings at the High-A level before bumping up to Double-A. He has struggled to a 5.50 ERA there in 13 starts, but still seems to be a quality asset to add to the Detroit system. He’s just over two years removed from being selected in the second round of the 2016 draft and, in 2017, turned in a 3.68 ERA with an exceptional 87-to-16 K/BB ratio in 80 2/3 innings of work.
At last look, Shore sat in the No. 14 spot on the MLB.com ranking of the A’s farm. He’s known more for “pitchability than stuff,” as that outlet puts it, so he’s valued more for his floor than his ceiling. Of course, even a perceived floor requires health, and that’s one area that has been a problem in Shore’s brief time as a professional; he was slowed by a lat issue earlier this season and had a pair of trips to the disabled list last year in an otherwise encouraging campaign.
As for Fiers, the 33-year-old has been quite a boon for an otherwise injury-ravaged Athletics pitching staff. He’s taken the mound eight times since donning the green and gold, pitching to a sterling 3.09 ERA with 44 punchouts against just 10 walks in 43 2/3 innings of work. He’s still been far too homer-prone in that time (10 homers allowed), but Fiers has generally been one of Oakland’s most effective starters since joining the team. Oakland can control him through the 2019 season via arbitration.
]]>Needless to say, it’s disappointing news for both the 29-year-old hurler and the organization, which has seen numerous controllable hurlers go down to injury this season. Of course, that also hasn’t stopped the club from posting a stunningly successful campaign.
Entering the 2018 season, there was hope that Triggs would build off of a 2017 season in which he posted a 4.27 ERA in a dozen starts before undergoing season-ending hip surgery. Instead, he limped to a 5.23 ERA through nine outings before hitting the shelf.
There’s no sense in guessing at an outlook at this point. In comparison even to Tommy John surgery, recovery from which is not as linear or as certain as is sometimes presumed, surgical treatments for thoracic outlet syndrome have produced quite a range of timelines and outcomes. It’s certainly not promising for his long-term prospects in the big leagues, though plenty of pitchers have been able to make it back to the MLB mound after undergoing surgical treatment for the syndrome in recent years.
]]>Las Vegas had previously been home to the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate, but the Mets purchased the Syracuse Chiefs last winter with the intention of moving their Triple-A club to a considerably more favorable location (geographically speaking).
Oakland was one of five organizations reported to be facing a potential relocation of its top affiliate, and the move to Vegas will now leave Nashville as one of four potential partner cities for the remaining clubs. Notably, the Nationals were reported to have interest in partnering with Nashville, now that their former Syracuse location is home to the Mets’ top affiliate.
For the A’s, they’ll step into a newly constructed facility in Summerlin — about 13 miles from the Las Vegas Strip. Richard Velotta and Betsy Helfand of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported last year that construction costs on Las Vegas Ballpark, the stadium’s formal name, would total $150MM.
“It is an incredibly exciting time to partner with the Las Vegas 51s,” said Athletics executive vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane in the press release accompanying the announcement. “Their ownership group is committed to providing a first-class environment for our players, which includes the grand opening of the Las Vegas Ballpark for the inaugural season of our affiliation. We’re looking forward to working closely with Don Logan and his staff as we both work towards putting a championship club on the field.”
“The new PDC will provide a tremendous environment for the players with the state-of-the-art amenities that will enhance player development with the indoor hitting cages, mounds and workout areas in the Las Vegas Ballpark,” 51s president and COO Don Logan said in a statement of his own. “…McCarran International Airport has non-stop flights to the numerous [Pacific Coast League] markets, as well as the big cities, that enables our team to have the best travel in the 16-team league. This will be a great situation for our fans to watch top prospects in the A’s system as well as players on Major League rehabilitation assignments showcase their talents in the Las Vegas Ballpark.”
]]>That move, of course, would leave the Rangers searching for a new affiliate, though Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News wrote over the weekend that the Rangers could well end up in San Antonio, where a Triple-A franchise will be added as Colorado Springs loses its Triple-A designation (a move that’ll leave the Brewers, currently in Colorado Springs, looking for a new home as well). As Fraley explores, the facilities to which the Rangers could relocate in San Antonio are currently lacking, which could potentially prove detrimental in pursuing minor league free agents. However, sticking in Texas would come with greater marketing opportunities and a preexisting fan base from which to draw.
The Brewers, Nationals and Athletics are the three other clubs that are yet undecided on next year’s affiliations. The Nats will be seeking a new partner following the post-2017 announcement that the Mets had purchased the Syracuse Chiefs (securing a much-needed geographic upgrade over their current home in Las Vegas). The Athletics, in similar fashion, would reap significant geographic benefits by moving from their current home in Nashville to either Fresno or Las Vegas.
Betsy Helfand of the Las Vegas Journal-Review notes that the Nationals have expressed interest in moving to Nashville, while Bryant-Jon Anteola of the Fresno Bee suggests that the A’s would likely have their pick between Fresno and Las Vegas, as both would prefer to partner with the Athletics for geographic reasons, giving Oakland the advantage. That’ll present the A’s with the decision of whether to play in California or move to a newly constructed facility Vegas and seems likely to leave the Brewers with an even larger gap between their big league club and their top minor league affiliate, though they’ll be moving into improved facilities either way.
]]>More from the AL West:
Luzardo, 20, has had a meteoric rise in 2018 and is among the game’s more highly regarded prospects, having ascended from Class-A Advanced all the way up to Triple-A this season. Along the way, he’s pitched to a combined 2.88 ERA with 10.6 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 and allowed just seven homers in 109 1/3 innings of work.
Luzardo was considered a high-risk prospect, and perhaps still is, when the A’s acquired him alongside Blake Treinen in the July 2017 trade that sent Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson from Oakland to Washington. He’d undergone Tommy John surgery prior to being drafted in the third round by the Nats in 2016 and, at the time of the trade, had pitched just 13 2/3 professional innings. That trade could scarcely have worked out better for the A’s at this point, as Treinen has stepped up as an elite reliever in his own right, while Luzardo could be knocking on the door of a big league promotion next season as a 21-year-old.
The A’s don’t currently have many Boras clients on the roster, though Luzardo joins two of the team’s best players, Matt Chapman and Sean Manaea, in that regard. The change in representation has been reflected in MLBTR’s Agency Database, which contains representation info on upwards of 3,000 Major League and Minor League players. If you see any notable errors or omissions, please let us know via email: mlbtrdatabase@gmail.com.
]]>Earlier Moves
This deal continues a busy few days for Brooks, whom the Brewers selected from the minors Aug. 30 and then designated the next day. The 28-year-old didn’t throw a pitch for the Brewers, and he hasn’t taken a major league mound since 2015 – part of which he spent with the Athletics. Brooks tossed 51 innings of 6.71 ERA ball with Oakland that year after it acquired him (and Sean Manaea) from the Royals in a trade for Ben Zobrist.
More recently, Brooks did solid work with the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate in 2018. Despite having to pitch in hitter-friendly Colorado Springs, Brooks managed a 3.35 ERA/4.14 FIP with 6.7 K/9, 2.54 BB/9 and a 55.1 percent groundball rate over 99 1/3 innings (26 appearances, 15 starts).
Coulombe, who has been with the Athletics since they acquired him from the Dodgers in 2015, has been fairly effective in the majors. Over 143 1/3 career innings, including 139 with the A’s, Coulombe has held same-handed hitters to a .234/.304/.327 batting line and pitched to a 4.27 ERA/4.09 FIP, also notching 8.41 K/9, 3.83 BB/9 and an excellent 56.8 percent groundball rate. But major league lefties have teed off on Coulombe this season, as the the 28-year-old has yielded a .317/.364/.512 line in 23 2/3 frames. Coulombe has also registered a subpar 4.56 ERA/5.10 FIP and a 4.18 BB/9, though he has averaged nearly 10 strikeouts per nine and recorded a 51.7 percent grounder rate.
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